Italian 31 Commander

It seems the owner of this 31 Commander is not a member. I stumbled onto these 2 pictures somewhere on the net. The one picture shows a stern mounted boarding ladder for when you anchor and back into a shoreline pier. I know I have seen pictures of this type of docking in Europe, but I'm really glad we don't see this very often (if ever) here in the States. Whats really interesting however is the custom rudders and rudder mounting system on this boat. I know you should never say "never", but I really don't believe Chris ever made Commanders with this type of rudders and associated mounting. It's a small world, and a damn interesting one at that !! :-) Also worth noting is the double cylinder trim tabs with almost the same chord as width.

Replies to This Discussion

Dick, could be a repower with engines moved back? Looks like the rudders and props are aft of normal by perhaps a foot. If the engines were moved back the extra tab may be needed to get the bow down at nearly any speed.

Well Dick that is interesting--I guess in very strong current the leverage the rudders provide to steer would be a bit better with that set up as they are further from rotational axis--but doesnt seem really necessary. It also seems although I might have to think a bit more that the further the props are away from the nose of the boat in general it would keep the nose down a bit more as the same rotational issue would be true just in another axis.( sort of like those canoes on the amazon with the prop 8' away from the back of the canoe) Just from the look of the design I would name them ''stern thruster rudders" !! Thanks for the pics.

I have done a bit of boating in the Med, and it is interesting. It is actually quite easy to do. They have very old facilities there (like a thousand years old), money is not available to build docks, like we have here, in many places, there is not any upkeep of the facilities (as there are not any), and they can get many more boats "docked" at any given place. Placing the anchor takes some practice though, and fenders are plentiful. The other interesting thing is that they do this many boats deep. In other words, when the quay (bulkhead) is full, the next boats simply tie off of the boats behind them, and so forth. It is odd as an American to have people waking along you decks at all hours to get to their boats, but they are much better at sharing than we are here. And you meet new people, make friends, and generally it is a much deeper and richer experience. As many have noticed in Europe, especially southern Europe, people typically share dinner tables and it gets very social. I like that part.

As far as the rudders are concerned, one theory is that with almost all boats being diesel, that the engines are further back. Or, in many high tide areas, they wait till the tide goes out and the boat is left on the mud so they can repair the boat or paint the bottom, I know this is common in England.

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